


I Love You a Lily More Each Day

by Rueitae



Series: Rue's Bad Things Happen Bingo [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Broken Bones, Buried Alive, Engaged Couple, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Left for Dead, Love Confessions, Post-Canon, Tenderness, Trope Inversion, Undercover Missions, except they are already, thats what i wanted to title this but i don't think anyone would appreciate it, the modern day flower shop au trope inversion rue has always wanted to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24584680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rueitae/pseuds/Rueitae
Summary: Pidge is not happy and going into an alien flower shop only marginally makes her feel better.
Relationships: Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Series: Rue's Bad Things Happen Bingo [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668730
Comments: 13
Kudos: 18





	I Love You a Lily More Each Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cyangarden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyangarden/gifts).



> Written for the BTHB prompt 'buried alive'. I had the first part written up for a seeds prompt that I'd misread so I repurposed it for this because I have been really, really desperate to use this setting.
> 
> Many thanks to Katie for her outstanding beta work! It really kicked this one into shape!

The sweet aroma of fresh flowers overwhelms Pidge’s senses as she opens the door, a silver bell ringing gently to indicate a new customer is entering the shop. A gust of wind enters with her, stirring up the pollen and tickling her nose. She sneezes in a high pitched manner, far too cute for a former Paladin of Voltron. Not that Pidge minds, in a situation such as this where she’s undercover it lowers the guard of her enemies.

“I’ll be right with you!” calls a male voice from the back of the shop. Pidge allows herself a smile. A warm, bubbling feeling wells in her heart at the imminence of seeing him again. 

She’s thankful for the expression covering up the uneasy feeling in her gut, the same feeling that screams that she should not be here.

Inside the shop she sees flowers and succulents of varying shapes and sizes, lining the walls and filling the floor and shelves. Amid the alien flora, Pidge finds herself drawn to a batch of white lilies. The flowers transport her briefly to Earth, to home, because of their uncanny resemblance to the ones in her mother’s greenhouse at the Galaxy Garrison. Delicately, she takes one from the stem, enjoying the feel of something familiar on this otherwise barren moon that is millions of light years from home. 

Pidge shudders at the suddenness of the presence behind her. She isn’t afraid, not of him, never of him, but she relishes in the thrill of tenderness, the romantic gestures reserved these days only for her. Soft hands, larger than her own, grasp the stem of the same flower she holds. “A Ginger Lily of Earth,” the man from before says, confirming her suspicions regarding the flower. “One of my personal favorites. May I?”

“Be my guest,” she responds with affection she really shouldn’t be using, releasing the lily to him. Even though she’s mad at him she can’t disguise her fondness, not after not seeing him in so long. All she wants to do is soak in his comforting and loving demeanor.

She can stay her anger for just a few more moments. 

He takes a pair of sheers from his apron pocket and cuts the lily’s stem. Delicately, he brushes the long hair of her wig behind her ear and places the flower there, twisting a few of the wig’s hairs to hold it in place. “It’s perfectly suited to you. My gift.”

Her heart pounds when Lance smiles fondly, the one part of him she’d recognize anywhere. Even when he wears his own wig and is cloaked to look like one of the native aliens. It elicits a grin from her, unable to hold back despite being undercover herself. Though she knows it’s him, it's still better to use the code they developed to be safe. “These are perfect for my wedding bouquet. What’s the price for a dozen?”

His hand lingers by her ear and his fingertips blush down the side of her face. “The import fee is high, so they are not cheap. It will take a grand favor to become the proud owner of a dozen of these lovely ladies,” he says, referring to the flowers. A favor for a favor, all part of this moon’s bargaining system. He pauses just a moment, mouth forming a thin line on his face. “But not as high as that of your life.”

Guilt pools in her heart but she doesn’t let it show. She can’t. The tender fantasy of a modern flower shop meet-cute bursts apart at the seams, bringing them back to reality. Heat rushes to Pidge’s cheeks, embarrassed at being called out while struggling to stay in character and in disguise. “Come to my wedding,” she says. “You would be welcome by everyone.”

A long frown forms on his face. “Even your groom?”

Pidge inhales sharply. “ _ Especially _ my groom.” The goofball  _ is _ her groom, after all. Just as soon as he gets the information the Blades need on the pirates in the area - what they want from  _ her _ . “I want you there. No matter what. To show you that couples do things together, like _ not _ keeping the other in the dark. Even if it’s to keep them safe.”

If only he’d told her the reason he left himself, then maybe it would have been different. Better than finding out, by interrogating Keith, that there were assassins after her.

A soft, chaste kiss to her cheek seals the deal - literally. “I’ll take the kiss as the favor. The arrangement will take a few days. Come back in one week - and no sooner.” The steel in his eyes is sharp, the same as when he first offered his life to her. The same as it was even before the many times he protected her as a fellow Paladin.

Lance disappears into the back with a handful of lilies, leaving Pidge to enjoy the premade floral arrangements. For just a few moments longer she lingered, dreaming of the day when she’ll be adorned in a crown of vibrant flowers befitting the Guardian of the Forest as she marries her fellow Paladin in front of their families and friends. It’s all she can do to keep the unease in her stomach at bay. 

~~~~~

Lance can’t breathe until he watches Pidge leave the shop. 

Collapsing his upper body onto one of the many metal workbenches, he barely holds onto the lilies as his hands shake. Stubborn, resilient, beautiful,  _ brilliant  _ Pidge figured him out. Lance chides himself, because  _ of course _ Pidge ran out to deep space to find her missing fiancé. She’d done the same for her father and brother after all. He shouldn’t be as surprised as he was to see her.

At least he’s given her a week before she'll be back in the den of crime. Hopefully it will be enough time for him to gather the information he needs to keep her safe and get out of here himself. 

So much for the social intellect she insists he has. Clearly not telling Pidge about the mission to save her life was a bad idea. Now she’s here in the belly of the beast of a drug ring, all because he tried to be a man and take care of things himself.

Idiot.

“You sure do like to charm the ladies,” Sevlin snickers over in the corner. Lance’s boss, a minor drug lord operating on the moon, enjoys chit chat. It’s made it all  _ too _ easy for Lance to gather the information he needs on his boss, the one after Pidge’s life. 

With a wave of the hand, he forces a cheesy, cocky grin. “Well of course! They are our best promotion after all, word of mouth ”

Grinning right back as he leans to the side onto a support beam, crossing his four arms together, he responded, “Earth lilies, huh? Sounds like another from the Paladin fanclub.”

It takes all of Lance’s being to remain unnerved, shrugging to hide any shaking he might still be doing. “Or maybe her groom is. Who knows?”

Casually the drug lord plucks a bright red leaf off of a rare Tsunonian fern. Lance gulps at the action. Colleen has one in her lab, and as he’s unfortunately found out, the paralyzing toxin is  _ very  _ effective on humans. 

“I’ll get Tervl to go fetch her.”

Heart beating wildly, the former paladin tried to stall, to distract his boss by necessity. Anything but that. He can’t rush Pidge back here. “I’ve got tons to do before working on her order,” he forces himself to say brightly as if his boss shouldn’t trouble himself.

The grin Sevlin shows him is not nice, as he walks over to him, leaf in hand, Lance backs up. 

“Better to be safe than sorry. Expedite the order. If she’s not human, then we apologize for making her come back by having it ready.”

No. No no no. They were going to get her and it’s all his fault. 

“Don’t you touch her,” he growls in a dangerously low voice. 

Forgoing his cover, Lance acts first, flipping the unilu onto his back. The culmination of years of Paladin training and the intense desire to protect his loved ones proving to be effective. In this case, it is his future wife that drives him to act. 

Yet it still isn’t enough! Sevlin simply smirks and shoves the horrible red leaf on Lance’s face. It’s impossible to stop himself from inhaling the sweet honey scent the plant gives off. One sniff is all it takes before a tingle speeds through his nervous system and he falls to the floor like a ragdoll. 

With his body immobilized, his boss gets up slowly, making a show of dusting off his clothes. 

“You know, even though the timing of your hire was terribly suspicious, I was really starting to like you,” Sevlin admits. Dispassionately, as if just doing his job, the alien reaches around Lance’s ear. He finds the cloaking bot that is holding up his disguise far too easily. With a pinch of his nimble fingers, the bot is destroyed, leaving Lance vulnerable and exposed. Wearing nothing but a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt makes him easily recognizable. 

“Loverboy Lance,” that old nickname will haunt him forever. “I should have known,” his boss smiles unkindly. “In another life we might have been good business partners, maybe even friends.” He taps Lance’s cheek, as if an adult coddling a child. “But I can’t do much with a former Paladin, not when I’m after your dear wife-to-be.” He leans in closer, a whisper in his ear. “A pity, I had some money on what dress she’d end up wearing before this job came up.”

Lance strains to glare, anything to fight past his inability to act. He can’t will his limbs to move, no matter how hard he tries. All he wants to do is tear Sevlin limb from limb.

“Don’t worry, kiddo. I’m not  _ that  _ cruel,” he says with such false affection it makes Lance’s stomach twist into knots. “You won’t be alive to watch her die.”

Redoubling his efforts to move as Sevlin claps his hands, because he refuses to give up on Pidge. The love of his life, the very reason he put himself in this situation. Lance continues to struggle against the paralytic. Large, pounding footsteps enter the shop through the back door. It’s the muscle Sevlin has to carry in inventory, and also carry out all the awful poisons and drugs he mixes from the plants. The bigger unilu immediately starts ripping out the metal floorboards in the store. Barely a dobosh later they take his limp body in their arms, dropping him past the floorboard and into a prepared hole in the ground beneath the building.

His heart runs a mile a minute as thoughts of how quickly this has gone south run through his head; mind doing what his body cannot. This is too fast. Sevlin was prepared for this, practically setting up their conversation for a dramatic reveal. It now made sense why he had such a specific planet at his disposal to render Lance useless. The hole is also deep with purpose, made far in advance.

Because of the toxin he can’t even scream when he lands awkwardly in the dirt. Unable to twist and protect himself, his arm hits a loose rock against the wall around him. Searing pain shoots up his nerves from the impact. Lance can’t feel his arm, but he catches just a glimpse to see it at not its usual angle. It jolts him just enough to land with his back to the bottom of the pit, gaze fixated on the dwindling light, the metal floorboard half shut.

“A pity this wasn’t another reality or another life, Paladin Lance,” Sevlin says, kneeling at the entrance. “You won’t suffer long. The trollemites have a taste for fresh flesh. They’ll find you well before you can feel again. And trust me,” Lance can practically see Sevlin’s dark smirk from the tone of his voice, “you won’t want to be able to feel when they find you.”

Then everything goes dark. 

And Lance is left to wait pathetically for certain death by alien termites. Worse, he can’t bring himself to care. His thoughts are filled with how wrong it is that he can no longer feel the pain from his broken arm, the plant numbing him completely  _ after  _ the break. 

His thoughts drift towards Pidge, fearing far more for her safety than his own imminent demise. 

No one is coming this time. Not Keith, who never got his codeword for if anything was to go wrong. Not Hunk, nor Shiro. The latter is not even aware he’s missing. Not even Pidge, who is on the run from these aliens herself. 

Life went downhill ridiculously fast. Just months ago he and Pidge sat in peaceful bliss, planning their wedding. Then he went and ruined it all, leaving with no notice to intercept the assassins after Pidge’s life. 

Yes, he is an idiot. 

_ But you’re my idiot _ , a soft, tender voice says in his head. A voice that sounds an awful lot like Pidge.

Lance sighs as much as he can while immobile. 

_ I’m sorry _ , he replies to the Pidge in his head.  _ I really screwed up this time. _

~~~~~~

Time is immeasurable from his position in the dark hole in the ground. Not even his stomach is reliable anymore, the numbness taking care of any hunger pains. 

He can, however, feel emotions.  _ Strongly. _ Hearing the rumbling of dirt beneath him makes his heart sink in despair. It must be time for his fate. 

The only regret he has is that he could not save Pidge. 

A tongue slithers around his waist, lifting his body off the floor of his would be grave. Lance knows what these aliens look like, so it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to picture the needle-like teeth that he only has his clothes to protect him from. As if they wouldn’t cut through his clothes like scissors did paper... 

At least Selvin didn’t lie about one thing, Lance won’t feel pain.

His body slowly bends backwards, head slipping suddenly. Instantly Lance’s world is lit up with the bright green crystals that line the inside of the alien’s mouth. In his peripheral vision, the teeth are closing in around his ankles, just as he imagined. Slobber lands in his mouth and Lance imagines his own face twisting in disgust. The distraction from the grossness is short-lived as he’s unable to spit or choke it out, Lance’s lungs struggle for breath.

“Lance!”

Ok. No, Sevlin lied after all. Lance  _ is definitely  _ feeling pain - an ache in his heart that he hears Pidge’s voice so clearly as he’s about to get eaten by an alien. _ I’m so sorry, Pidge. _

His vision darkens as the alien’s gems light up like space Vegas. It howls in pain but Lance feels nothing. 

~~~~

Pidge is furious as she slams her bayard into the alien’s throat and switches on the electricity. She came to this moon for Lance and she is leaving with a living, breathing Lance. Even if she has to fight Death itself for him, he’s making it out alive. They both are.

In this case she’s thankful it’s only a trollemite. Powered by her bayard’s electricity, the gems all over its body begin to illuminate the dirty hole. As a result, it overloads the alien’s usually dull senses from a life in the dark underground.

“Let him go!” she demands. Already having dealt with her own assassins and a drug lord; she is not in the mood for her husband to become space worm food. 

Not today.

The trollemite spits Lance out at her feet. It rears its head and screams, twisting dramatically into the air before slamming into the wall of the pit and then burrowing back into the earth. 

Pidge checks the latest being off her mental list of enemies while falling to her knees at Lance’s side. She gently cups his cheek, a gasp escaping her lips upon the sight of his pale face. The most frightening part is when she realizes he isn’t breathing. There’s saliva coming out of his mouth - but it isn’t his.

Remembering her first aid training, she rolls him on his side. However, this time she sticks her hand in his mouth, not caring how gross the gel-like material feels against her skin. Grabbing at it, she shovels the thick substance out of his mouth as fast as she can. Her heart beats wildly, a litany of pleases unconsciously muttered, begging for her fiancé to start breathing on his own.

Once he  _ finally  _ does, she decides that Lance choking is the most beautiful sound she’s ever heard.

The former Green Paladin falls limply to the ground beside him, exhausted from her own panic as adrenaline leaves her body. Finding enough energy for a simple action, she takes his hand in her own, needing to reassure herself that he was indeed there. 

“I love you so much,” she says through teary eyes - ones she didn’t realize she is shedding until they fall in her field of vision. “You made it through Sendak, and Zarkon,  _ and _ Haggar - you are  _ not  _ allowed to die because of all this.”

She isn’t expecting Lance to answer in his condition. Her would-be assassin was  _ quite _ helpful in providing her with all the information on Lance’s location and the state he was in due to the toxin. Not for the first time in her life, she is thankful that her mother is a botanist. 

But somehow he manages to speak, the toxin already beginning to wear off even though it shouldn’t after such a short time. “I’m...idiot…”

That does it. Pidge chokes on her own tears, both laughing at the relief of hearing his voice, and still crying from the hurt in her heart over his self-deprecation. It’s a testament to his resilience and how far he’s come to get some movement back so quickly.

“I don’t want you any other way,” she says as she nuzzles her face into the crook of her neck. “You are perfect just the way you are, Lance: protective, fierce, and loving. If that means idiot, then I aspire to be one too.”

His fingers delicately and slowly curl around hers. “Love...you…sorry.”

“I love you too,” she repeats, as if she might never get the chance to say it again. “I’ll keep guard until you can move again. Then you can apologize properly so I can forgive you.” Squeezing his arm in an attempt to comfort, she quickly realizes it is only to her benefit since he does not yet have all the feeling back in his body. “But...thank you. For looking out for me. Now it’s my turn to look out for you. We’re both needed at our own wedding, right?” she teases.

Pidge seals the deal, the promise, with a gentle kiss to his temple. 

“And you better believe I still expect a bouquet of lilies for the ceremony,” she finishes with a huff, followed swiftly by a ribbing grin. 

Out the corner of her eye she sees the beginnings of a smile on his face. Right then and there, Pidge knows that everything will be just fine. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](https://rueitae.tumblr.com/)! Please leave a comment if you liked it! I'm anxious to know what you liked!


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